


Daddy Issues

by StutteryPrince



Category: Camp Camp (Web Series)
Genre: and they are extremely severe, david has daddy issues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-22
Updated: 2017-07-22
Packaged: 2018-12-05 09:11:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,736
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11574948
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StutteryPrince/pseuds/StutteryPrince
Summary: “Gwen.” Oh god, he had that voice. That voice he only used when he was deathly serious. “I don’t want to talk about my father. I never want to talk about my father. He matters to me the same amount I matter to him. If you have any respect for me, you’ll never bring this up again unless I ask.”





	Daddy Issues

**Author's Note:**

> Hey you guys should check out my blog for more David: fluffy-camp-counselor.tumblr.com  
> It contains less talk of David's daddy issues.

Gwen had noticed something strange about her fellow camp counselor. Well, she always noticed strange thing about the peppy ginger, but this one in particular caught her attention.

 

Gwen had always known David for being childish, but whenever Cameron was around, the type of childish he was was completely different. He would flock to Cameron and hang around him much like a son would his father, hanging onto every word he said no matter the context of the conversation. He would idolize him for every second he was around and the look of disappointment and hurt, not to mention a hidden bit of panic in his eyes, would break her heart every time. David would work himself to the point of passing out whenever he heard talk of Cameron coming, making sure every small thing was to detail or else he’d passive aggressively snap at the problem. He worshipped the conman like he was God himself, but Gwen had heard David accidentally refer to him as “Dad” and the like  _ much _ more than once.

 

He always assured her it was just a lapse of mind, like when you accidentally call your teacher “mom” but Gwen found it just a bit more concerning than that. He had once exclaimed to her that he wished Cameron would tell him “that he’s like the son he never had” and though she hid it behind her snarky reply, she has secretly felt a pang of worry and concern in her heart for David. He looked and sounded so excited when he had said, but he had purposely avoided her gaze, looking dreamily up at the sky instead, but she still caught a small flash of panic in those blueish-green eyes of his.

 

Not to mention, David’s more-than-occasional pettiness. If things didn’t go his way when he wanted them to, the man was a angry toddler in seconds. Max had told her to get David to actually realize Daniel was a bad guy and to get him to actually do something about it, he had to persuade him into thinking Cameron would fire him in favor of Daniel. The same thing happened when Neil had gone missing that one day. David had ignored and pushed her aside in favor of talking about how great the camp was with subtle jabs at his own greatness and he had snapped at her when she wouldn’t leave him alone to subliminally gloat about himself. When he heard talk of Neil missing, he quickly covered up any idea that the camper would have been hurt or even missing in the first place with white, but very blatant lies. All to ease the minds of the high counsel so he could make sure he got his award, not so he could make sure there wasn’t a panic. He didn’t even willing go looking for Neil, only following along when people commented on finding a clue to make himself look good.

 

That need to impress, that need to make sure Cameron noticed him when he wanted to be noticed, the idolization of Cameron, the slight perfectionism, the pettiness. None of it made sense, but at the same time Gwen had a fair idea of what was happening with David.

 

Well, Gwen wasn’t about to stand for guessing and assuming anymore. She had to know why the happy-go-lucky camp counselor of Camp Campbell could become such a petty self-centered bitch at the drop of a hat.

\--------------

“Whew! What a day, huh, Gwen?”

 

“Yeah, I guess.”

 

The two walked into the main counselors cabin, David flopping onto his bed while Gwen sat in an armchair and pulled her knees up to her chest. They were both covered in drying clay, but David was coated head to toe in greying splotches of the stuff while Gwen only had a few speckles.

 

“I can’t believe Max likes pottery though! You saw the look on his face when I took his pot out of the kiln, even though he only looked that way for a split second, I still saw it! Gah, I wish he could look that excited all the time!”

 

David pushed his top half up off the bed.

 

“Oh, we should do pottery camp more often!”

 

“I guess.”

 

David pouted when Gwen didn’t look at him and only gave him a dejected and sad tone in return. He understood she wasn’t as excitable as him, but she usually at least playfully entertained his ideas at the end of the day when they were both covered in the mishaps of day. He let out a like huff, crawling off his bed and over to her, sitting by the side of the chair so he could look up at her.

 

“Hey, you okay? If this is because you’re shirt is ruined, I’m sorry I couldn’t block all of the clay from getting on you when Harrison accidentally made the projects explode.”

 

“It’s not that.”  _ Now or never, Gwen. _ “Can I ask you something, David?”

 

He put his chin on the arm of the chair and did that head tilt of his.

 

“Of course, Gwen! What is it?”

 

Gwen hesitated for a moment, wondering how the man in front of her even  _ had  _ the negative emotions she’d him exhibit. After taking a deep breath, Gwen closed her eyes to further calm herself before opening and leaning into the chair in a way she hoped look like tiredness.

 

“Father’s Day is coming up, you know. Maybe we can have the campers make something for their dads?”

 

David jumped up immediately, smiling widely as he began pacing.

 

“That’s a super idea, Gwen!”

 

He began rattling off details to the camp as they came to him and Gwen began to notice that his pacing involved a lot of head movement, looking this way and that as he thought out loud.

 

“Are you going to send your dad something,” Gwen cut in calmly.

 

David froze. He stood stock still before he shook his head, coming back to reality. The happiness and excitement seem to drain from him and he turned to her, clearing his throat and focusing on the floor.

 

“Uh, no. No, I won’t be, uh, sending him something.”

 

“Why not?”

 

David worried at his lip and he gripped his arm, flexing the fingers of his free hand as he began to fidget.

 

“It...It doesn’t matter why, Gwen. I just won’t be sending him anything.”

 

Gwen tried to look David in the eye, but he was set on looking down at the carpet on the wood floor, making it absolutely impossible for her.

 

_ Time to dig a little deeper. Sorry David. _ “I just think it’s a little weird that you of all people isn’t rushing at the chance to send someone a gift, is all. I mean, I understand if it’s because of the slow as hell mail system up here, but other than that I can’t think of a reason as to why you wouldn’t send a g-”

 

“It’s because he’d just throw it away.”

 

Gwen stopped short, looking up at David. He was looking at her but just barely, his head tilted up a smidge so she could finally see his eyes. He took a deep breath before looking at her completely and Gwen could see the hurt, the bottled up rage, in his eyes. The sight admittedly unnerved her.

 

“I’m not going to send him anything because he wouldn’t want something from  _ me  _ in the first place.”

 

It suddenly clicked in her mind, the root of the majority of David’s issues. She stood up suddenly, eyes wide and mouth open.

 

“Oh my god, you have daddy issues.”

 

David jumped a bit, blushing a bit at the presumption. 

“N-No, I don’t! It’s just that he doesn’t want anything to do with me so I don’t want anything to do with him!”

 

“David, that is like a key point in having daddy issues.”

 

Gwen gripped her air as she began to pace, smiling widely as if she had just come across another bundle of money Cameron hadn’t hid well. 

 

“Oh my god, I can’t believe you  _ actually _ have  _ daddy issues. _ ”

 

“Gwen-”

 

“What did he do to make you hate him so much?”

 

_ “Gwen-” _

 

“Ohoh! Did he beat you? No, your mother! Dude, we have to sit down and talk about this. Here, I’ll go get my notepad and we c-”

 

**_“Gwen!”_ **

 

The shout caused Gwen to stop in her tracks and look up at David, but she immediately wished she had kept her eyes in front of her. David looked like he was about to cry, but he also looked royally pissed, but he also looked like he was bottling up the anger as fast as possible. He bit his lip to the point of it bleeding a bit and blinked several times and it looked as if he was trying to clear his eyes of tears, but she could clearly see the wide dots in his pupils and it became apparently that he was trying to get rid of these. He heaved a deep breath, trying his best to stay calm.

 

“Gwen.” Oh god, he had that voice. That voice he only used when he was  _ deathly _ serious. “I don’t want to talk about my father. I  _ never _ want to talk about my father. He matters to me the same amount I matter to him. If you have any respect for me, you’ll never bring this up again unless I ask.”

 

Gwen could see him shaking a bit and her heart broke, the young woman watching as he tried his hardest to get rid of the tears that threatened to fall. Slowly, she walked forward and hugged him lightly, his arms wrapping around her after a moment. They stood like that for a good time, accompanied by only the sounds of nature outside the window. Gwen’s eyes widened when she began to process what was being whispered in her ear by David.

 

“He told me it was my fault. I couldn’t make him happy, no matter what I tried.”

 

Before she could ask further questions, David turned her right around and politely shoved her out the door, shutting and locking it afterward. Gwen stood there for a moment, sadly looking over her shoulder at the cabin before she trudged back to her own.

 

She’d persuade him to tell her one day. But that day wasn’t coming soon, that much she could see.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey you guys should check out my blog for more David: fluffy-camp-counselor.tumblr.com  
> It contains less talk of David's daddy issues.


End file.
